Suzaku no Miko Half
by Starbrigid
Summary: Ranma-Fushigi Yuugi. Instead of Miaka, Ranma gets put into the Book of the Four Gods... and guess who's Seiryu no Miko? Yaoi, humor, and lots of angst. Discontinued.
1. Girl from Another World

Disclaimer- Ranma and Fushigi Yuugi aren't mine, they're Takahashi Rumiko's and

Watase Yuu's, respectively, and also many other organizations affiliated with them.

  
  


Warning- Cursing, mild violence, innuendo, etc., probably stuff you'd see on Fushigi Yuugi

anyway there, and yaoi, probably. If you don't like, don't read. Spoilers for Fushigi Yuugi's

entire storyline as the story goes on, and as for Ranma 1/2, spoilers for the first episode

and the ones that introduce Ryouga.

  
  


Explanation- Okay, this was originally inspired by the thought that Fushigi Yuugi's Suzaku

no Miko, Miaka, was a wimp when it came to fighting, and well, EVERYTHING, because of

her lack of knowledge, experience, and initiative, which we all know. Wouldn't it be great

if the Miko could defend herself, and not be babied beyond belief? And I got to thinking

about anime females, and somehow I got stuck on the best female martial artist who I

knew and loved- Saotome Ranma-chan, of Ranma fame, who with a bit of thought

would fit just perfectly. It would be interesting how she was actually a he, it would give

us a fresh break from Miaka, who though becomes rather admirable and lovable is always

a bit annoying, and I knew just who'd take the place of Yui as Seiryu no Miko...

  
  


Author's Notes- This would be best enjoyed if you were at least somewhat familiar with

both Ranma and Fushigi Yuugi, but it's okay if you're only familiar with one of them,

especially if that one is Fushigi Yuugi, and BOTH of the shows do start from the their

beginnings. It sticks pretty close to the Fushigi Yuugi plot, at least at the beginning,

but will probably diverge later. If you can't stand that kinda thing- well it's kinda like the

yaoi. You don't have to read it.

  
  


The opening and ending songs, which I both rearranged, are from Fushigi Yuugi- "Winner" 

(it fits Ranma so much better than For My Loved One AND it rocks), and "I Wish", by Yui's Seiyuu.

Translations of their rearranged lyrics, mostly taken from animelyrics.com (THANKS!) are

printed in the first chapter of the fic.

  
  


As for Ryouga speaking Chinese? Don't you think a guy like him who's been all around the

world constantly would have learned whether he wanted to or not, if not very well? 

  
  


Sorry for the long notes. Now on with, as I used to call it, "Saotome Ranma, Suzaku no

Miko"- Suzaku no Miko 1/2.

  
  


***

  
  


I just can't go on

With these feelings I have

The pain of yesterday

Keeps me from going forward.

It's a labyrinth with no way out

That I keep on wandering 'round

But even if there's no way out

I'm gonna tear it down!

  
  


In this life

The weak really can't win.

If fate turns against you

You have to stand and fight!

  
  


It's not like you can do whatever you want

No matter what you try.

I'll push myself further,

Because I want to be more than I am!

I want to seize the ultimate joy!

I want to seize the ultimate joy!

I want to seize the ultimate joy!

  
  


Suzaku no Miko ½

by Starbrigid

  
  


This is the story of a young girl who single-handedly gathered the Seven Stars of Suzaku and gained the power to make all her dreams come true. The story itself is an incantation, and whomever reads it gains the main character's power to have their wishes granted. This is because once they turn the first page, the story will become real and begin...

  
  


Episode 1- Girl From Another World

  
  
  
  


"Whaddaya mean I'm cursed? What're you talking about? Turn me back into a boy RIGHT NOW!"

  
  


Saotome Ranma, heir to the Saotome School of Anything Goes Martial Arts, was more pissed off than he had ever been in his ENTIRE LIFE. He and his pop had gone to a legendary training ground in China called Jusenkyo. When they both had fallen into some perfectly normal-looking springs there, Pop had turned into a panda, and he, Ranma, had turned into a... a... girl! Of all things! Saotome Ranma, man among men, a girl!

  
  


It was all Pop's fault, obviously. He was the one who'd taken them to the stupid place, and Pop couldn't even read Chinese, so he hadn't known anything about Jusenkyo. And he was the one who'd knocked Ranma into the stupid Spring of Drowned Girl in the first place! So his stupid Pop, now a huge panda, was lucky to just be lying knocked out on the slope, and that Ranma hadn't had the heart to do anything more serious to the old man. He was lucky that Ranma had just calmly changed into his dry Chinese-style clothes and left him alone. He was also lucky that Ranma had then gone to the funny-talking guide to get a cure for the transformation, which would help Pop as well as him. And then what did the weird Chinese guy tell him?

  
  


He had been CURSED. The Jusenkyo curse was not permanent, though. Whenever the cursed were doused with hot water, they turned back into their original forms. But only until cold water hit them. Then they'd turn back into their cursed forms. It worked the same way for Pop's curse, too.

  
  


"Turn me back, then! Take this stupid curse offa me!" Ranma yelled, waving her newly small and delicate fists threateningly.

  
  


The Jusenkyo Guide backed away, alarmed at the girl's ferocity. "Can turn you back to boy for temporary!" He reached out of seemingly nowhere and pulled out a gold thermos. "Is hot water. Pour on self, turn back to boy."

  
  


Ranma eagerly grabbed it, and she turned back into a he. "That's better! Now tell me what I got to do to never change back! Cuz I ain't gonna stay with some stupid water-triggered curse, and Pop ain't either! We're martial artists, we can't afford to deal with somethin' like that!"

  
  


Jusenkyo Guide shrugged. "Like said, is permanent. No is cure."

  
  


Ranma gaped. "Whaddaya mean?" he yelled angrily, waving his fists again. Definite bodily harm was promised if he had to stay with this curse.

  
  


The Guide backpedaled. "On second thought, maybe there alternative for kind sirs. There reference book in hut which-"

  
  


"Thanks, man!" Ranma called, once again too impatient to listen to what else the guide had to say. In a second he had ran into the hut, and he began to madly tear through the books. "Come on, I don't want to be a girl!"

  
  


"Sir, wait!" the Guide yelled anxiously, hurrying to catch the speeding boy. "Very bad you open wrong book!"

  
  


Ranma pulled down book after book, opening them and hurriedly dropping them onto the ground when he discovered they were useless. Then one book that had been wedged carefully at the back of the shelf caught Ranma's eye. "Yes!" Ranma hissed. He could feel the magic coming from it. This had to be it.

  
  


He grabbed it and opened the first page, eyes skimming over the unfamiliar Chinese characters without assessing their meaning. "Hey, guide, get in here. You gotta read this for me-"

  
  


When he had finished skimming the opening section, he was blinded by a sudden red light emanating from the book. "What the- Is this gonna cure me?" A huge, shining red bird appeared in his eyes- no, a phoenix-

  
  


The light enveloped Ranma, and the only thing he felt before he was gone was the soft, slithering touch of cold water.

  
  


***

  
  


The Jusenkyo Guide ran into his hut, huffing and puffing. "Please sir, you-" Sir wasn't there. "What- where sir go?" He blinked. "Sir leave? Wait, sir!" He ran out. "Why you wreck hut? Find panda now... Oh, things go very bad now!"

  
  


The frantic Jusenkyo Guide ran out. He did not look down. If he had, he would have seen a quite valuable and dangerous book lying on the ground opened, still shining with a faint red light.

  
  


***

  
  


"Where the hell am I now?"

  
  


The Eternal Lost Boy had arrived at Jusenkyo.

  
  


Hibiki Ryouga stared at the unfamiliar location with his typical incomprehension. "This is a weird place. A... training ground?" Then realization sparked in his brown eyes. "Ranma must be here!" He felt his blood quicken and threw his head back in anger. "Saotome, prepare to die!" he screamed, familiar emotions once more aroused.

  
  


He launched himself off the hill, and began to jump from pole to pole, trying to find his self-declared worst enemy with his typical lack of strategy. "Saotome, you coward, the time has finally come! You can't hide forever from our MAN TO MAN FIGHT!"

  
  


At the thought of Ranma, he stopped jumping, angrily stomping down. Unfortunately, he was currently standing on a thin, light wooden pole, and with his strength, it quickly gave out. Ryouga, shocked, plummeted down, and within a second, had fallen into the spring below.

  
  


Ryouga resurfaced, shaking water out of bleary brown eyes. "What was-" Ryouga blinked- the voice sounded strange. The Lost Boy looked down.

  
  


And SCREAMED.

  
  


Ryouga, by some odd twist of fate, had also fallen into the Spring of Drowned Girl.

  
  


"I- I'm a girl?" she squeaked. "How?"

  
  


Ryouga's brain, unable to cope, reached the 'obvious conclusion.' "Saotome, this is all your fault! Prepare to die!" She jumped out of the spring and up to the top of the hill. Then she looked around, disoriented. "Which way was I going?"

  
  


She ran forward in the direction her directionally-challenged brain told her, pushing her newly long hair out of her eyes by tightening her yellow bandana. But as she ran, she felt something weird about her body, something... heaving? She stopped and looked down at the yellow tunic she'd changed into. There were large, heavy breasts beneath it.

  
  


Ryouga hesitantly reached out to touch them. She couldn't believe these were hers. She hurriedly pulled back. They felt strange. They shouldn't be there. Her muscles shouldn't be smaller, her waist shouldn't curve in. And below that, there shouldn't be-

  
  


Don't think about that, she told herself. For now, I kill Ranma!

  
  


The newly female Ryouga stumbled- into the hut. "What happened here?" she wondered, gazing around in wonder at the mess of discarded books. When she saw the ancient-looking tome lying on the floor, she reached down to put it back on the shelf- and STOPPED. The book lay open, and there was something awfully familiar about the girl in the book's picture-

  
  


It was what Ranma would look like if HE was a girl.

  
  


No way. Ryouga, eyes widening with disbelief, stared down at the text accompanying the illustration and read it aloud hesitantly. "And so, the Suzaku no Miko, transformed by a into her female form by a cursed spring, entered into the book's universe-"

  
  


Ranma... was cursed like him? Ranma was in this BOOK? That was crazy! And that would mean that Ranma was this "Suzaku no Miko", whatever that happened to entail. So that couldn't be, right? But that illustration was definitely Ranma- Ryouga blinked, confused, and read the spine of the book.

  
  


"The Universe of the Four Gods- Unauthorized Copy..." Well, that was meaningless to Ryouga.

  
  


"Come out of there, Saotome! Face me like a man!" she screamed, then winced. She was a GIRL now. How could she face Ranma? Her eyes caught on a sign posted on the wall.

  
  


"To Jusenkyo-cursed people. Pour hot water on you, you turn back. Pour cold water, curse reactivates, you turn back to cursed form."

  
  


Ryouga blinked and reached into a closet. There were countless thermoses of hot water. Weird. What were they doing there? She poured one over her head and was a he again. Ryouga sighed gratefully, patted HIS flat chest, lean masculine form, and toned muscles to reassure himself. He was a guy again. But for how long?

  
  


At least Ranma was cursed too.

  
  


Ranma... what was happening to Ranma in that book? "Saotome..." he almost whispered. "Please come out..." No answer.

  
  


He sighed heavily, eyes losing the spark in them. "Saotome, you've made my life a living hell- I will NEVER forgive you for this."

  
  


He opened the book and began to read.

  
  


***

  
  


Ranma lay on the ground, unmoving.

  
  


Her eyes opened slowly. "Ugh..." she breathed. "What happened to me?" Then she recognized her voice as female. "I'm a stupid GIRL again?"

  
  


She looked around. Her surroundings were unfamiliar. A grassless exterior covered with rocks assaulted her eyes, only relieved by the occasional dimly green plant or tree. She could see mountains in the distance. The sky was a clear blue, but still had a reasonable amount of clouds drifting across it, enough to keep anyone from waxing poetic about it-

  
  


THIS sure as hell wasn't Jusenkyo! "Pop?" Ranma called uncertainly. "Where the hell am I?" Her breath caught when she realized what she'd said, and she laughed bitterly. "Great, I'm Ryouga," she muttered.

  
  


Ryouga. Her thoughts turned to him for the first time in a while. Where was he? She wondered what he was doing right now. Was he in school? No, knowing him he was probably just as lost she was. She winced. She regretted that she'd had to leave and hadn't gotten to fight him like she'd promised, but Pop had waited an unreasonable amount of time anyway- unusual for him. She missed the Lost Boy a bit, though her memory of him did seem to be fading. Just another thing lost on the constant journey of bettering her martial arts.

  
  


Or was he lost from her? She wondered. Even now, if she tried hard not to forget, she could picture him clearly. If she tried, she wouldn't forget him. It was all a matter of what she wanted. But it would be a pity to forget him. Ryouga was the only she'd ever met besides Pop who could really come even close to challenging her in a fight- and she knew that if it wasn't for her speed and greater training, they would be a pretty fair match. She also knew for a fact, and grudgingly had to admit, that Ryouga was physically stronger than she was, even though he didn't use it with the skill and ease she possessed. She hated it, but it was true.

  
  


What would Ryouga have done in these unfamiliar surroundings? What DID he do when he got lost? Did it always feel like this when you didn't know where you were or where you were going, when you weren't sure just exactly what was going to happen to you?

  
  


That explained a lot about Hibiki Ryouga.

  
  


What was she thinking, wasting time just standing there like that? Where was Pop? What was she gonna do if she and Pop were separated? What was Pop gonna do? What about their training mission? She didn't know...

  
  


Well, could this be a dream? But dreams weren't this vivid, and she never wondered if things were real during actual dreams. And... she'd have dreamed about food, like she usually did, cause she and Pop were always hungry. If she wanted to be STUPID, she could have admitted that they weren't just hungry in the want food sense.

  
  


Hungry...

  
  


Ranma tensed as she heard an unfamiliar pattering sound start up. After thinking for a second, she recognized the sound from when she'd heard it in the few movies she'd seen. It was horses, she realized. And sure enough, horses appeared, controlled by some of the most nasty-looking men she'd ever seen. Probably criminals, Ranma thought, classifying them with the assessing eye martial arts had given her.

  
  


They stopped when they saw her, standing there alone in her odd red shirt and blue pants, small and pretty and seemingly defenseless. Ranma's eyes narrowed when she heard one of them whisper, "What a prize," to another. Were they talking about what she thought they were talking about? "We should get a good price when we sell her." She gaped, outraged, then realized they had somehow managed to form a circle around her while she was distracted. Why had she let her guard down? Was it because she'd been thinking of Pop and Ryouga?

  
  


"Who are you?" Ranma yelled. "You ARE slave traders, right?" If they thought they were gonna sell HER, heir to Anything Goes, as a slave, they had something else coming.

  
  


The guys all sneered. "Yeah, sweetie. Now just be quiet and you won't get hurt."

  
  


Ranma sneered. "Like hell!"

  
  


The guy in front growled and made to charge. Ranma grinned and fell into a fighting stance. A fight? Now THIS was familiar. She could handle this. She was put off when the man stopped. A second of inspection made her realize that someone had grabbed the man's wrist and twisted it, catching him in the middle of his assault. "Stop it," the new man said coolly. She growled. This was HER fight. What the hell-

  
  


Her 'rescuer' was a boy, a year or so older than her by his appearance. He wore some kind of old-style long navy tunic, was pretty tall. His hair was long like hers, put back in a braid as opposed to a ponytail, which was how she most liked to wear it. Even though his hair was teal as opposed to black, the... really quite handsome boy kind of reminded her of herself as a guy. In a way, it kind of felt like her own self had shown up to rescue her... But it wasn't, and this was still HER fight! He needed to back off and stop playing hero before he got HURT.

  
  


A guy charged at him, yelling incoherently. The boy turned, and Ranma could see his narrowing eyes were an unusual pale violet. She stared, momentarily distracted, and was caught off guard when the boy took the thug down easily. Shit... her 'rescuer' was a martial artist, too!

  
  


She watched, bewildered, as he incapacitated thug after thug with the same ease he'd taken down the first one. The slavers weren't really that good, but the boy was much better than she'd expected he would be- definitely a notable fighter. Who was he? There was something very unusual about him. He had the Chinese character for ogre on his forehead, and if she didn't know better, she'd have said it was glowing. Ogre-boy, huh? Well, even though he was good and his movements WERE fast, she could tell that he wasn't as good as she was.

  
  


When the last thug had been taken out, the defeated criminals stared up at the young boy, amazed- and then ran for it, screaming in terror. Ranma snickered. Then the boy leaned over, a seemingly gallant, caring expression on his face. "Are you okay, miss?"

  
  


Ranma glared up at him, amusement disappearing, replaced with indignant anger. "Of course I'M okay, you-"

  
  


"Grateful? If you are, you should give me MONEY!" the boy chorused, holding out his hands expectantly.

  
  


Who the HELL did this guy think he WAS?

  
  


Ranma gaped at him. "Kisama-" she blurted, amazed.

  
  


The boy looked disappointed. "By 'kisama', I guess I can take it that you don't HAVE any money." He began to walk away, taking the distance in long, graceful strides. "Lady, money makes the world go round." Ranma heard him mutter to himself, "Why did I waste my time saving some girl if she didn't even have money?"

  
  


"No one asked you to save me!" Ranma called, furious, running after him. "I could've handled them on my own! I ain't no damsel in distress! Come back here, I'll kick your stupid-"

  
  


"I hate poor people! Bye!" the boy called, and then, faster than Ranma's eye could catch, he was gone towards the city.

  
  


"Wait! What IS this place anyway, you jerk?" Ranma yelled, but it was too late. He was out of sight.

  
  


"That settles it," she scowled, standing up and taking a battle position, ki flaring up around her. "I'll show HIM just what kinda damsel in distress I am! As... soon as I find him, that is." Ranma deflated, ki falling back down, and thought as seriously as was possible for her. "Then... I'll go turn back to a guy, I guess...and then find out where the hell I am so I can get back and find Pop." She turned to go, course of action clear in her mind. All of a sudden, an idea occurred to her that stopped her in her tracks.

  
  


The red light had come from that book, and then she'd woken up in this weird, unfamiliar place that seemed almost like a storybook setting. Had- had she been sucked into the book? It made sense why things were so strange here- But that was crazy! 

  
  


But how crazy was being a girl right now, either? It felt true.

  
  


"I'm in a book?"

  
  


***

  
  


Ryouga stared at the Universe of the Four Gods. The illustration showed Ranma once again. This time she was watching as her rescuer left. He sniggered. That was FUNNY. Ranma, a damsel in distress! But- he turned the page... sighed and screamed, "Die, Saotome!" once, just to reassure himself...

  
  


Ranma was just as lost as he was for once- maybe more- and even though Ryouga couldn't fight him, why wasn't he that happy about that? He should be...

  
  


"Searching for the boy, the girl ran to the capital and stopped..."

  
  


***

  
  


"To take in the stunning view..."

  
  


Ranma stood overlooking the capital, gaping at what she saw. "Man!" she muttered. "This is incredible, like some kinda movie set! Guess I'm in ancient China, huh?"

  
  


Ancient. What WOULD Pop do without her? And what would SHE do without Pop? Their training- how would she become a man among men without Pop's twisted but constant guidance? Well, actually, considering the whole BEING A GIRL thing, it was a bit late to for 'man among men'...

  
  


She gazed over the city. "It's really busy there-" she observed, then her eyes caught on a navy figure, standing out among the others. It was that boy!

  
  


"It's him! I've found him!" Ranma grinned triumphantly. "Ogre-boy, prepare to die!" she cried, and launched herself from the slope onto the city below. When she had landed she stopped and groaned at what she had without thinking said. "Great, I really am Ryouga now!"

  
  


"Okay, coming through, get outta my way, watch it, guy..."

  
  


She stopped again at the sight that suddenly assaulted her eyes. A bunch of people. Balancing on elephants. A circus in the middle of town? Creepy. Everyone did seem really animated, full of life. Well, she didn't have time to stand around and gawk anyway. She did have a mission, after all. But- she'd lost track of Ogre-boy- She groaned. She was HUNGRY. She and Pop hadn't eaten for who knew how long. The buns at the food stand in front of her looked SO GOOD-

  
  


"Miss, it's not nice to stand there and drool, you know," the man at the stand said gently.

  
  


Ranma winced. So hungry... "Mister, have you seen a boy... really good-looking," she grudgingly admitted, "With the character for ogre on his forehead?"

  
  


"No, miss. I'm sorry," the guy said, and he sounded like he really meant it. His eyes swept over the strange but pretty young girl, who was obviously very lost and confused. "Even though you're dressed weird, you're really cute. Have some free buns!" Ranma's mouth opened wide.

  
  


"Really?" The guy nodded. She hurriedly took the free food and stuffed it in her mouth without another thought. "Luck-y!" she chorused under her breath. Maybe being a girl had its advantages.

  
  


The guy grinned at the happy expression on her face. "Say, there's a nice-looking guy right here, little lady-"

  
  


"Sorry love to chat but gotta find Ogre-guy!" Ranma speed-talked, not really listening to what the guy was saying, then rethought what she had said. "You got any hot water?"

  
  


The guy looked confused at the unusual request, but pointed down the street. "They should have some at the clinic."

  
  


"Cool! Thanks, mister!" Ranma called, and ran off without a backward glance.

  
  


"Strange girl," the guy mused. "Too bad she left, she WAS really cute..."

  
  


Ranma ran toward the clinic. On the way, however, she was stopped by some guy tapping her on the shoulder. "I heard you're looking for a boy with the character for ogre on his forehead."

  
  


Ranma turned to him warily. "Yeah, what's it to you?"

  
  


The guy smiled. "He's a friend of mine. If you want, I can take you to him." Ranma's eyes widened, and she thought for a second. Well, the hot water- but, the ogre guy wouldn't know it was her beating him up if she turned back, anyway. And maybe THIS guy felt a bit off, but that was probably just because he spent time around the stupid jerk.

  
  


"Yeah, sure," Ranma agreed. "Take me to him."

  
  


***

  
  


"Have you heard? There's a strangely-dressed girl wandering around town."

  
  


"Oh yeah, I heard about that. She's looking for some guy with ogre written on his forehead, right? I heard she's dressed like a man, and is traveling all along like one, too, but's really hot, of all things. Where in the world did a girl like THAT come from?"

  
  


The boy who had rescued Ranma heard this and started. "Excuse me for interrupting. The strangely-dressed girl- did she have red hair?" he asked.

  
  


"Well, I don't know all the details, but that's what I heard," the guy shrugged. "Real cute, bright red hair and blue eyes, that's the description my pal Ryo told me."

  
  


The boy's eyes narrowed calculatingly. "The description fits. Red hair, blue eyes.. and she sure WAS cute. I guess it IS that girl from before..."

  
  


***

  
  


Ranma was not a patient teenager by any means. After they'd walked for quite a while, her patience snapped. "Where is your friend anyway, man? I ain't got all day."

  
  


The guy sneered at her naivete. "Right here," he drawled, the expression on his face that of the cat who'd just gotten the cream.

  
  


Ranma looked around and saw no one. She scowled. She should have followed her gut feeling. The guy didn't know ogre-boy, it had been a trap! Shit! Man, was everyone in this book a criminal, or at least, as in ogre-boy's case, really annoying?

  
  


"Well, this girl's dressed a lot more strangely than the usual ones," a male voice lazily commented. A number of guys strolled in, seemingly out of nowhere, joining the man who had tricked her. Ranma's fists clenched. Were they slave traders, too?

  
  


"She's a rare one," the leader grinned. "The clothes alone will fetch a high price."

  
  


The guys all moved into place, a clearly planned operation. "I wonder if it's true foreign girls taste any different," one guy hissed, dirty fingers wiggling in excitement.

  
  


Ranma choked. T-taste? They- they wanted to RAPE her? What? "You tricked me into following you, and now you're gonna try to RAPE me? ME?!" Ranma shrieked disbelievingly, voice raising to an ungodly volume.

  
  


"Shut up! Stop being so loud!" the guy in front hissed, and raised his hand to strike her. Ranma's mood abruptly changed. Any normal girl would have been terrified, but Ranma, who was really a boy, and a martial artist to boot- her mood soared up, excited adrenaline racing through her veins. If she couldn't fight Ogre-boy, at least she could work out some tension by fighting some honor-less rapists. She grinned, ready for the blow. This was gonna be FUN-

  
  


But the blow never came. A pebble had struck the man on the back of his head, so he had stopped and turned to see where it had come from. A figure stood on the roof, tossing another pebble in his hand threateningly. Ranma's jaw dropped. 'Rescued' again? What was WITH this "book"?

  
  


"Who are you?" the thugs shouted at the figure.

  
  


He didn't answer. "Four guys... against one girl?" he said threateningly. Ranma recognized that voice- It was ogre-boy! She groaned, leaned against the wall and sighed, exasperated. WONDERFUL.

  
  


He caught the pebble, and the character for ogre once again gleamed on his forehead. "You call yourselves men?"

  
  


Ranma found her voice again, pushing away the combination of shock and helpless amusement. "You don't have to, Ogre-boy. Just go away, I'll fight 'em. I ain't some damsel in distress! Hell, I've been training for YEARS in-"

  
  


"Just let me handle this, okay?" the boy shouted, and launched himself down into battle.

  
  


***

  
  


"As the girl faced peril, the boy with the mark of ogre upon his forehead appeared and beat off the hoodlums..."

  
  


Ryouga's eyes bugged out, then he nearly fell over laughing. "Ranma gets saved again? This is priceless! I can just imagine what Ranma's gonna do to this guy when those crooks are gone!" Though, still, the idea of men trying to RAPE Ranma of all things-

  
  


He stopped hurriedly, stretched out his legs, and reached into his pack, taking a needed break. His stomach growled, so he pulled out some instant ramen and began to eat it dry- it was a taste acquired by necessity.

  
  


"Hurry and come back, Ranma. I still want to- to FIGHT you," Ryouga hissed- at the picture of the ogre-boy beating up the criminals- Ryouga froze in mid-chew-

  
  


"You wouldn't ever- want to stay in that book, would you? Even for that boy who- saved you?"

  
  


***

  
  


When the boy had wasted the last of the rapists, he walked over to Ranma. "I thought it was you. What are you doing here?"

  
  


Ranma scowled and walked right up to his face. "Looking for you, dimwit. I couldn't just let you get away with treating me like I was some sort of helpless whiny girl in need of rescue."

  
  


The boy blinked. "Isn't that what you are?" he asked innocently.

  
  


Ranma's mouth opened wide in outrage, then she drew her first back and hit Tamahome as hard as she could. He went flying across the street, smacked hard into the wall, and collapsed on the ground.

  
  


Ranma grinned. "And there's more where that came from!" She cracked her knuckles menacingly. "Come on, bi-shou-nen, take your beating like a man! You've really pissed me off, so face the consequences!"

  
  


The boy looked up with bright, wide, watery amethyst eyes.

  
  


"Scary..."

  
  


"No more talking!" Ranma yelled, and catapaulted high into the air, coming down right before him. "Now, you die!"

  
  


"Wait!" Ogre-boy cried. "Aren't you overreacting, miss? You're still a young girl, and you couldn't have handled a bunch of thugs!"

  
  


Yes she could have! "Shut up!" Ranma yelled, and slammed her first towards the boy's head. He ducked at the last second, and her fist left a small dent in the wall behind the him.

  
  


"Aren't you going to introduce yourself, nice cute girl?" he said desperately, trying to stall the enraged female.

  
  


Ranma grinned nastily. "Okay. Saotome Ranma. And who the hell are you?"

  
  


"My name's Tamahome," he said, flashing a charming if a bit frazzled grin. He was glad to have temporarily stopped her assault. He stood up, and he was far taller than her. "I'm a traveling man in search of money. Sorry to bother you." He made to split.

  
  


"Wait!" Tamahome found himself grabbed and held in place. "I have no idea where I am or what I'm supposed to do to find my Pop, and since you're the only one I know here, you're going to help me! Or I'll beat you within an inch of your life!"

  
  


Tamahome backpedaled. "Whoa, I'll help you, okay. Just calm down! Geez!" Just his luck that he'd meet some weird tough girl and be suckered into helping her without being paid.

  
  


"Now, where AM I?" Ranma asked.

  
  


Tamahome looked at her oddly. "Konan. DUH. Was that supposed to be a joke?"

  
  


"What's a Konan?" Ranma snapped. He was making her feel stupid.

  
  


"An empire, okay? We're in the capital city," Tamahome explained, wondering. Was she one of the crazies? It would explain how strange she acted. He gave her a glance to the side. "Sure I can't convince you to give me money for this?"

  
  


Ranma glared. "Don't push your luck, cuz I KNOW I can take you in a fight any day."

  
  


Tamahome leaned in weirdly. He hadn't ever expected a girl to say something like that to him. "Just what kinda young maiden are you, anyway, Ranma?"

  
  


Ranma glared at him. "You idiot, I'm not a-" Then she stopped. Was she going to tell him about her curse and her true gender? It was so embarrassing. She didn't want to say anything. Even if she'd have to deal with him thinking of her as a girl, at least he wouldn't know her true problem if she kept quiet about it. "I'm a girl, still, whatever KIND you may think I am," she lied. " Yeah, most girls are wimpy and stupid, but I'm not like that."

  
  


A bruise was steadily forming on Tamahome's face. "I've never met anyone like you, ever, Ranma..." Tamahome said, an odd smile crossing his face. After a second, a newly energized smile replaced it, sly and teasing. "Well, at least I'll have a story to tell my family when I get home! Come on, let's find the way to where you're from, whatever place makes girls like you!"

  
  


They walked away together, bickering, but with a clear understanding between the two of them. They had become friends in an instant somehow, in an understanding between two unusual people, and would help each other find their way.

  
  


The Suzaku no Miko and the first of her seishi.

  
  


***

  
  


Ryouga closed his eyes silently. "Ranma..."

  
  


He wasn't quite sure what he was afraid of.

  
  


***

  
  


Those stars that twinkle in the darkness

Must have made you lose your way as well.

We're both looking for a different tomorrow

So very much alike,

You and I.

  
  


Even though I know believing in someone,

Will only end up hurting me in the end...

  
  


I wish for your love

I wish for your love

Why? Please tell me, blue star...

  
  


I wish for your love-

I can't become strong

With a broken heart.

  
  


***

  
  


Next Time on Suzaku no Miko ½!

  
  


Today, Ranma gets food.

Oh yeah, and gets Tamahome in trouble by picking fights.

A beautiful young man appears, too.

One who puts the moves on Ranma-chan.

Said Ranma-chan has weird dreams.

She has a heart to heart with Tamahome.

Well, kind of.

Tamahome is revealed NOT to be a soulless bastard.

Ryouga just sort of exists.

And we insert song lyrics in the middle of the episode for no reason.

SO... join us for the next time on Suzaku no Miko ½,

"We're going as fast as we can."


	2. Suzaku no Miko

Disclaimer- See first part.

  
  


Warning- Nothing new, really.

  
  


Author's Notes- I chose to cut part of this episode because I wanted to have the introduction of Nuriko be all one episode. Plus, it's after that I plan to diverge from Fushigi Yuugi's original plot anyway.

  
  


For anyone in the world who DIDN'T know, Suzaku no Miko means Priestess of Suzaku. Sorry, I just prefer to use that term. 

  
  


Lyrics from Fushigi Yuugi's "For My Loved One" are quoted in this chapter, taken from the translation on the Fushigi Yuugi box sets. Again, thanks.

  
  


Shi shi hokodan- the attack is used for dramatic effect. I know Ryouga sure didn't have that attack back then. For those who didn't know it's Ryouga's most powerful attack, which he finds later in the show, allowing him to channel all his depression into a huge blast of energy.

  
  


Sorry about the 'Last Time On...' and 'Next Time On...' segments. Suzaku no Miko ½ isn't actually that silly or random, so I needed a chance to unleash that. -sweatdrops-

  
  


And finally, something I realized while writing this chapter- Ranma and Miaka are alike in a few ways after all, aren't they?

  
  


***

  
  


Opening Theme- Winner

  
  


Suzaku no Miko ½

by Starbrigid

  
  


Last Time on Suzaku no Miko ½!

  
  


Saotome Ranma WAS just an ordinary schoolgirl in Japan. But then-

Okay, cut. Maybe we CAN'T exactly say THAT.

She's hardly ordinary- she's a martial artist.

She wasn't in Japan at the moment, she was in China.

And she... isn't actually a girl.

She has a curse that turns her into one temporarily.

But she's really a boy.

Weird?

Yeah, we know.

Long story.

Well, anyway, she got sucked into this weird book.

And this guy named Hibiki Ryouga showed up and started reading it after she was gone.

You know?

Ryouga?

He's this rival of his- hers now?

With freaky strength and bad direction sense?

Yeah.

You know Ryouga.

So anyway, when she was sucked in, she kept getting repeatedly rescued by Tamahome.

He's this guy with the character for ogre on his forehead.

He really annoyed her.

Saving her and all.

She made Tamahome, who really loves money, agree to help her find her father for free.

Let's just say her fist did a bit of talking.

Ranma's not known for diplomacy.

And Ryouga, while reading all this, had issues.

Not that he doesn't usually.

Things seemed okay.

But nothing went go exactly as planned for Saotome Ranma, as always...

  
  


Episode 2- Suzaku no Miko

  
  
  
  


Ranma dreamed.

  
  


In his dream, Ryouga sat on the ground before him, unusually docile, his large, rough hands holding a book. Ranma ran towards where his rival waited for him, a sense of urgency filling his now male body.

  
  


"Ryouga? Ryouga, man, what the hell were you doing at Jusenkyo? Why couldn't you hear me when I called to you?"

  
  


Ryouga turned and looked up at him, face brimming with overwhelming emotion- Ryouga had always had trouble hiding any of what he felt. Indeed, the teenage boy's large brown eyes were filled with angry, accusing tears, and his mouth was poised in a snarl, fangs flashing sharp and deadly.

  
  


"WHY did you run from our man to man fight?" Ryouga yelled, ignoring Ranma's stream of questions. "From the moment I met you, you've been making my life MISERABLE, Ranma! Stealing my bread, beating me up, not fulfilling your promises, making me run all the way to CHINA-"

  
  


WEAK.

  
  


Ranma felt an nonchalant, ugly smile crawl across his face. "No one ever told you to follow me here, if that's what you did. I never wanted to be part of your life- who'd want to be around someone as pathetic as you? Why are you so OBSESSED with me? It's really sickening." He smiled wider, satisfied- then stopped, grin fading when he saw the shocked, destroyed expression on Ryouga's face, realizing what he'd done. He hadn't meant- hadn't meant to- he WASN'T-

  
  


Ryouga stood there, stunned, then looked up to the sky, resigned sadness and acceptance in his every movement, true tears running down his cheeks as his hands slowly forming the position for an attack. Ranma heard him yell three unfamiliar words- "Shi... shi... HOKODAN!" A huge light burst from Ryouga, then slammed down into the ground. The place Ranma and Ryouga stood on crumbled to pieces beneath them, and they both fell-

  
  


"RYOUGA!"

  
  


***

  
  


"Who's Ryouga?"

  
  


Ranma's eyes opened and took in her unfamiliar surroundings. She was lying on the floor of what looked vaguely like a jail cell. Tamahome was leaning over her, giving her an assessing look.

  
  


"Who's Ryouga, Ranma?"

  
  


Ranma blinked, disoriented. "What's- where am I-"

  
  


Tamahome snorted. "SUZAKU. Here we are, stuck in prison, and you just lie there sleeping like a baby, then now you don't even remember how we got here? This IS all your fault, you know..."

  
  


Ranma winced as she DID remember just why they were in jail. "Oh, yeah. We got captured by the Konan soldiers-"

  
  


"Because of YOU," Tamahome growled. "You just HAD to pick a fight with me in front of the imperial caravan, THEN insult all the guards, THEN start glowing and disappear and reappear like some weirdo- Well, aren't you going to say anything? An explanation? Why you can glow? Maybe just who the hell the Ryouga guy you were yelling about before is?"

  
  


Ranma's fists clenched. "It wasn't my fault, you idiot. You were being a jerk. The guards had it coming, too. And I didn't mean to start GLOWING. If YOU had defended us against the guards after I came back and was still disoriented, we wouldn't be here."

  
  


Tamahome glared at her. "You think I can take on the emperor and his forces? If I'd tried, we'd be a whole lot worse off than we are now. We'd be DEAD. And you still didn't say who Ryouga is." Ranma remained silent. Tamahome looked ready to throttle the arrogant girl who seemed intent on remorselessly ruining his life- then sighed, moved away from the arrogant girl, and lay back down on the ground. "This is stupid. We shouldn't fight all the time. I guess it wasn't ALL your fault what happened."

  
  


"Yeah," Ranma said, not moving an inch.

  
  


Tamahome rolled his eyes. "You sure don't give a guy much, do you?"

  
  


Ranma was quiet. She remembered Ryouga. From the moment I met you, you've been making my life MISERABLE-

  
  


"Thanks," she said uncomfortably, looking down so she wouldn't meet Tamahome's eyes. "For helping me. And putting up with- stuff."

  
  


"Don't worry," Tamahome grinned. "You're a pain in the ass, but somehow, I like you. I'll help you find your father. Because you're a strong, brave person, and I want to protect that. I want to protect YOU."

  
  


This time, Ranma yell that she didn't need protection like she had last time. She knew that she didn't need to be PROTECTED by Tamahome, but like it or not, she did need HIM.

  
  


"Hm. On top of everything, Tamahome, I'm really hungry," Ranma remarked to her companion a bit later. "Bet you are, too."

  
  


Tamahome sighed. "Think the guard could get us some food? Unless you have an idea for how to break out..."

  
  


Ranma eyed the wooden bars- WOOD? What had she been thinking? She had been able to blow up wood since she was nine! She grinned. She had never been the type to think things through, so why not just do it? "Watch this, Tama-chan!" she yelled, ignoring the guard. Without any more warning, she drew her fist back and drove it through the wood easily, shattering their prison.

  
  


The guard took one look at her determined expression and the destruction she had caused, then screamed, "MONSTER!" and ran for it. Ranma snickered.

  
  


Tamahome stared at her, dumbfounded. "How did you do that?" Ranma smiled, full of self-satisfaction. "And..." he facefaulted, scratching his head and turning to glare at her, "Why didn't you do that before?"

  
  


Ranma shrugged. "No reason. And I've been telling you I'm no damsel in distress, you just haven't been listening. Now let's go, neh, Tama-chan?"

  
  


"I guess not," Tamahome marveled. Then he turned with a dour expression. "DON'T call me Tama-chan."

  
  


The two of them snuck up the hall, dodging from side to side.

  
  


"This makes me feel stupid," Ranma complained.

  
  


Tamahome opened his mouth to say something, no doubt rebuking- then blanched, hearing footsteps.

  
  


"Someone's coming," Ranma hissed. She and Tamahome both ran off in opposite directions- then ran back and smacked right into each other.

  
  


"What are you DOING?" she cried, incensed.

  
  


"What about you?" he retorted.

  
  


The two of them glared at each other for a second- it seemed they could never stop fighting- then both ran off in the same direction. They ended up running into a dark room.

To Ranma, the place screamed FOREBODING. She rolled her eyes. "Great choice of a place to run to, huh?" she said sarcastically, then stopped.

  
  


"Ranma," Tamahome said in a monotone.

  
  


"Huh?"

  
  


"Look at that."

  
  


"Huh?" She turned around- and gaped. A huge golden statue stood proudly in the center of the room, depicting a beautiful bird- a phoenix. "What's that?" she wondered out loud, marveling. Ranma, was at heart, a bit of a simpleton.

  
  


"It's Suzaku," Tamahome explained, a sudden, unusual reverence in his voice and posture. "Suzaku the Phoenix is a god. There's one god each for the north, south, east, and west. The god who protects the east is..."

  
  


This bored Ranma, who had tuned him out after the third sentence. Gods, gods, blah, blah, who cared. Far more interesting was that delicious smell drifting in- it was- FOOD!

  
  


And Ranma was gone.

  
  


"Well, enough talking, we should just see about getting out of here, right, Ranma?" Tamahome turned.

  
  


No Ranma!

  
  


"Aw, man, she ran off? Typical. RANMA!"

  
  


***

  
  


Ranma snuck into the kitchen and plopped herself in front of a tray of food. She inspected the spread of gourmet delicacies before her, barely containing her drool. To someone who hadn't eaten anything in days- this was-

  
  


After one look, she attacked.

  
  


***

  
  


She snuck out after she'd had her fill- okay, not her FILL, Ranma was ALWAYS hungry, but when she was mostly full. "Okay, Tama-chan, let's get outta this dump-"

  
  


No Tamahome!

  
  


"Aw, man," Ranma groaned. She'd left Tamahome behind when she'd gone in search of food, and she couldn't find her father without him! What was she supposed to DO?

  
  


She heard low laughter from behind her and spun around- then nearly fell over in shock, struck speechless. Before her sat the most beautiful man she'd ever seen. Long, silky honey brown hair spilled down over his shoulders and poured down his back. His body was shrouded by a long lavender robe, but his stance and careless movement as he pointed out her way belied grace and sophistication. His bronze skin shone like a jewel, flawless. His face was sharply, perfectly carved, as if by the hands of the gods Tamahome had been speaking of. Skillfully defined high cheekbones rose gently next to newly opened eyes that shone with amusement and kindness.

  
  


"You're lost, aren't you? The gate's over there. You can get out," he spoke, voice low and sweet.

  
  


Ranma stared, spellbound. She- whoa. "I... wasn't actually looking to get out, I was looking for a friend of mine, but thanks," she whispered, unconsciously straightening her hair and clothes.

  
  


"You're the girl they captured before, aren't you?" he said, rising to his feet slowly. Ranma's eyes narrowed. Was he- dangerous? Could anyone so beautiful be a fighter?

  
  


"It seems you ARE," he said, voice full of deceptive intelligence.

  
  


Ranma, eyes still fixed on the stunning figure before her, shook her head. "I- you shouldn't bother with me. I'm no one you know here anyway. And as you can see, I didn't stay captured for long." Ranma's eyes narrowed. "I can't take the chance of you squealing on me." She looked reluctantly at the mysterious man. She didn't really want to pick a fight with this guy for some reason. "You gonna tell?"

  
  


He smiled beautifully. "Don't worry, I'm on your side." He took a step forward, practically gliding, an apparition before her. "You can put your fists down. You and your friend won't need to fight here."

  
  


Ranma looked at him. There was something about him- despite his beauty and gentleness, she could feel strength and power emanating from him, from his tall form, his aura, which in truth were part of that beauty, fed its masculine strength. Ranma's senses, honed from years of martial arts training, said the man was not all he appeared to be. "Can you fight?" Ranma asked, seemingly out of nowhere.

  
  


He looked startled, and she could see a bit of the facade he'd put up slip away. "Why do you ask that?"

  
  


Ranma smirked. "I can tell from your movement and your aura that you're a fighter. A sword-fighter, I'd guess. Sword-fighters are kinda rare these days, but I guess since this is ANCIENT China-"

  
  


He glided even closer to her, Ranma's body uncomfortably registering the tall man's proximity. He was just as perfect up close. "Why do you say 'ancient China?' This is Konan."

  
  


Shit. Open mouth, insert foot the size of Jusenkyo. "I'm not- from around here-" Ranma said uncomfortably. She could feel her face reddening. "I'm from far away. Really far away. A-another world, in fact," she blurted out, then winced. That was even worse! He was gonna think she was completely crazy!

  
  


To her surprise, his gold eyes glinted, excitement and something else entirely filling his slender but powerful frame. "That's amazing..." Then Ranma could feel soft, graceful hands sliding to cup her face and pull it closer. She let out a little gasp and didn't resist, for once quiet.

  
  


"Relax," he said, absently fingering a strand of Ranma's bright red hair that had come loose. "My name is Hotohori..."

  
  


"Saotome Ranma desu," she whispered. She had no idea how to introduce herself formally to some classy person- who woulda taught her etiquette? POP? But it didn't really matter. Hotohori still sparkled before her in the shining sun. "Say, who are you, anyway, Hotohori?"

  
  


Hotohori's hand slid down her cheek slowly. "Does it... matter?" he whispered. Ranma's body, trained for fighting and rudeness, was unused to such gentleness. She shivered. It was a MAN... and...

  
  


"Come on, walk, let's go!" a harsh voice disrupted the movement.

  
  


Hotohori pulled away quickly. Footsteps sounded in their- palace guards were coming up the walkway. Ranma tensed. She didn't want to get Hotohori caught up in a fight. But to her surprise, her companion seemed calm, and he even tried to draw her off to the side to protect HER. "Quickly! Hide!" he hissed, but Ranma batted his hand away, peaceful mood gone, shaken out of her trance and pulling herself together.

  
  


"L-Like- Like hell I'd hide, Hotohori," she scowled, looked. The guards had an unresisting Tamahome with them, his hands bound before him. His eyes widened when he caught sight of her, and he tried to signal for her to run, but the guards had spotted her.

  
  


"It's the girl!" they cried, and advanced forward. Ranma fell into a fighting stance, but- Tamahome was unsure- COULD she really defend herself- he had never seen- she WAS just a GIRL, a girl who cried for someone named Ryouga while she dreamed in his arms-

  
  


You're a strong, brave girl, Ranma, and I want to protect that. I want to protect you. Because I- I-

  
  


Tamahome seemed frantic at first, then angry beyond belief. Ranma watched, amazed, as, ogre symbol flaring, his bonds suddenly snapped. Tamahome threw himself at the bulky soldiers, launching himself into them with a beautiful, fluid savagery, cutting down one after another. Ranma grinned, impressed (go TAMA-chan!) and made to help him.

  
  


"STOP!" a voice cried to the guards. Hotohori stood before them, robe wrapped around him, looking very different how he had before- a regal aura now surrounded him like a crown. "This two are under my protection. If you hurt them, I won't let you live!"

  
  


Tamahome looked floored. "Who- who are you?" Ranma snickered, forgetting her dismay at Hotohori's audacity when she saw Tamahome's reaction to his appearance- then stopped DEAD when she heard the guards gasp as well- and WHAT they said-

  
  


"It- it's the Emperor!"

  
  


And all the guards bowed down low before Hotohori. Tamahome was the first of the two to speak. "S-seriously? You're the EMPEROR? Of KONAN?" Hotohori nodded, silky hair falling in his face as he inclined his head down gracefully.

  
  


With a surprisingly high-pitched squeal, Tamahome hurled himself onto the ground. Then he noticed Ranma wasn't bowing, just staring at Hotohori, shocked. Tamahome looked up, elbowed her. "Bow," he hissed.

  
  


Ranma scowled. "Look, I don't care 'bout emperors or nothing, I ain't bowing to NOBODY. I'm Saotome Ranma, heir to the Anything Goes School of Martial Arts, and the 'Emperor' said we were friends." Her bravado faltered a bit as her eyes locked on Hotohori's noble form. "Right, H-Hotohori?"

  
  


The guards gasped at her impudence, and even Hotohori looked a bit taken aback. Tamahome nearly fell over, and backpedaled with his arms. "RanMAAAAA! You're gonna get us KILLED!"

  
  


Hotohori smiled. "I would be honored to be your friend, Saotome-san."

  
  


***

  
  


Ranma and Tamahome stood before Hotohori at his throne- well, at least RANMA stood. Tamahome half-stood, half-kneeled, still in awe, like everyone else in the vast room. Hotohori was now dressed in the full regalia of an emperor, hair bound up in a hat, making him look much older. Ranma personally thought he looked much better with his hair down, and almost somehow regretted that it no longer flowed freely down in a cloud of chocolate strands, although she would never admit to herself why.

  
  


"I'm sorry to have deceived you, Saotome-san," Hotohori said, high on his throne, distant and intimidating- or at least to anyone not as self-possessed and confident as Ranma.

  
  


Ranma shrugged, and wished she didn't have to be so damn far away from Hotohori. How was she expected to be able to carry on a conversation like this? "Aw, it's a good strategy. I don't care. And don't call me Saotome-san, okay? I ain't some official old guy."

  
  


"Very well, then- Ranma. I won't harm you, Ranma," Hotohori continued. "You and your companion, Tamahome I believe it is, will be safe in Konan. However, I do have a favor to ask of you."

  
  


Ranma's eyes narrowed suspiciously. "What?" she said slowly, prepared to fight her way out if necessary.

  
  


"Will you save Konan for me, Ranma?"

  
  


Ranma drew back. "Whoa- what the- what the hell- s-save KONAN- ME?"

  
  


Hotohori's expression was impossible to see while he remained on his throne. "There's an ancient legend that says when the empire faces destruction, a single girl will appear from another world, and she will gain the power of Suzaku and save our empire."

  
  


Ranma's eyebrows shot to her forehead. "No, Hotohori, think you're talking to the WRONG person here. Just cause I'm a martial artist doesn't mean I wanna or have the time t' go off on some quest- for a random country I don't even CARE about. I'm just here by some fluke, anyway!"

  
  


"Well, don't you want the power of Suzaku?" Hotohori asked, voice rising. "Isn't there anything you wish for, Ranma? Don't you have any wishes for Suzaku to fulfill?"

  
  


"Wishes?" Ranma repeated. Suzaku... gave wishes? "Then... if I become the hero of this book, and save Hotohori's country... I can get back home!" Her mind raced with the possibilities. "I can become the strongest martial artist in the world! Heh, I'll be able to beat Pop up easy! And... I can get rid of this stupid CURSE! All I'd have to do would be save some third-rate empire, and I'd get all that?"

  
  


There was an odd, intense look in Hotohori's eyes, and Tamahome and all the servants around him and Ranma were forgotten as the two locked gazes. "You could have the entire world if you so wanted, Ranma. I'd give it to you."

  
  


"I'll do it!" Ranma yelled, excitement soaring. "Count me in, mister! I, Saotome Ranma, will save Konan from- from- whatever the hell is threatening it! YEAH!"

  
  


"You'll become Suzaku no Miko?"

  
  


"Sure!" Ranma cried, then blanched. Wait. Suzaku no MIKO? PriestESS? "Eh, Hotohori, maybe on second thought, there's something you might wanna take into consideration first- something you don't know about me-" she began.

  
  


But it was too late. Hotohori stood, an emperor fully. "Listen to me, all of you!" he shouted. "This girl is the one who shall gain the power of Suzaku! She who shall save our empire, Suzaku no Miko, has appeared!"

  
  


"Aw, man," Ranma moaned. "Wait..."

  
  


But row by row of courtiers were bowing down low before her, bright sunshine beating down onto her new face. She couldn't help but throw her head back and laugh at the sudden wonderfulness of life, all her problems forgotten.

  
  


*Soar high, Suzaku...

Miracle La...*

  
  


***

  
  


"The girl took upon herself the role of Suzaku no Miko. Hundreds of courtiers formed ranks before her and bowed low..."

  
  


*The legend begins to unfold...*

  
  


Ryouga whistled lowly, a sense of worry growing in him. "Ranma... could get that power?" 

  
  


What would Ranma do with it?

  
  


And- why HAD he felt something calling to him before? It had felt like the one person his life was formed around now- Ranma- but when he'd turned around, there had been no one there.

  
  


He'd 'felt' Ranma when he was lost before, anyway.

  
  


*And the real me inside unfurls.*

  
  


"The girl had become Suzaku no Miko. She then fell asleep in the Konan palace and dreamed..."

  
  


***

  
  


*The distant whisper of (wo ai ni)*

  
  


Ranma was dreaming again.

  
  


*leads me to you.*

  
  


Ryouga was once again there. They stood, facing each as if about to fight, in the rubble that there had been after the last dream, destroyed by Ranma's callous words and Ryouga's vulnerability and accompanying strength.

  
  


Ranma sighed, and decided to apologize.

  
  


*My awakening soul shines-*

  
  


"Ryouga, I-I-I- I'm-" Why couldn't he say it? Because- his pride wouldn't allow him to. Hell, he WAS Saotome Ranma, man among men. He was never wrong. Well, maybe he was sometimes. But he'd never admit that to RYOUGA.

  
  


The music stopped.

  
  


"Shut up!" Ryouga screamed. "Nothing you say will change how I feel!" He ran forward, charging with a yell of raw animal fury. Ranma tensed, fell into a stance. Screw apology, Ryouga was going down anyway. When Ryouga thrust forward, Ranma jumped up high above him-

  
  


"You'll NEVER be better than ME, Ryouga! Keep on trying, you'll always be SECOND BEST!"

  
  


He slammed his fist into Ryouga's back, HARD, and rewarded with a cry of pain-

  
  


***

  
  


"What was that for, Ranma?!"

  
  


"What do you think it was for?" Ranma retorted hotly, full of irrational anger and hurt from what she had seen and heard, not recognizing the voice speaking to her, not recognizing that she HAD been dreaming. "Ryouga, you just don't understand anything, do you!"

  
  


"I'm not this Ryouga, whoever he is."

  
  


"Wha-" Ranma opened her eyes. Tamahome stood before her, clearly just punched in the face. Ranma winced. "Uh, sorry about that. I was-"

  
  


"Who's Ryouga?" Tamahome interrupted her, just as he had before, clearly not caring about having been hit for no reason. People like them bounced back quick. "This Ryouga's from your world, right?" He sighed, sat down on Ranma's bed. A girl would have been mad at him for his careless intrusion into her room, much less sitting on her bed, but Ranma did have the modesty of a boy along with all the rest. "You know, you've never told me anything about what your life was like before you came here, or why you keep having these dreams about this guy. I mean, we agreed we were friends, right?"

  
  


Ranma rolled her eyes, trying to compensate. "As if you've told me anything about yourself. All I know about you is that you can do martial arts and you love money."

  
  


Tamahome shrugged. He didn't seem to think revealing his past was that big a deal. "Fine, I'll tell you. My birth name isn't Tamahome, it's Sou Kishuku. I come from a large, poor family in one of the smaller towns of Konan. My-" He looked a bit hesitant to continue. "My mother died, and my father's too sick to do much. All my brothers and sisters are too young, too. So I went out traveling in search of money to bring back to them. That's what I was doing when I met you."

  
  


Ranma stared at Tamahome, her ideas about him changing. Tamahome tried to look nonchalant, uncomfortable with telling about his past after all. "Well, what about you?"

  
  


"I-" After Tamahome had told her all that on faith, she could only reciprocate. "I only have a father- I don't know where my mother is, and I don't have any siblings. Pop and I haven't stayed in any place in our world that long, cuz he's the master of the Saotome School of Anything Goes Martial Arts, and he's training me to be his heir. That's what both our lives are pretty much dedicated to and focused around. I got to this world by opening a book which was a portal here, which I found on a training ground."

  
  


"Your life's focused around martial arts?" Tamahome asked slowly, honing in on that part of what she'd said. He shook his head. "No wonder you were always so mad when I 'saved' you. And... what about Ryouga?"

  
  


Ranma raised her arms up above her head, yawning loudly. "Oh, he's not really anybody important to me. He went to my old school and was a fellow martial artist. That's pretty much it."

  
  


Tamahome looked a bit skeptical, but said nothing about Ryouga- there seemed to be something even bigger Ranma wasn't telling him. "What else is there?"

  
  


Ranma's fists clenched. She knew she'd have to change into a boy sooner or later and tell him her REAL secret- she wanted to be herself again, in truth. But what would Tamahome say- what would Hotohori say-

  
  


Why should she care? She was Saotome Ranma, now Suzaku no Miko, and she DIDN'T care what anyone thought. If they were disgusted with her curse and her kind-of-intentional deception- well, she'd just kick their sorry asses.

  
  


"Tamahome?" she began. "Take me to Hotohori. I have something I need to tell him. You too."

  
  


Tamahome's eyes swept over her form- Ranma hadn't bothered to change for the night, but had simply rolled up her pant legs and loosened the top few buttons of her shirt to fight the heat. She hadn't bothered to take down her hair, either, just left it in its now rather haphazard ponytail and slept on it. "You should... probably freshen up before seeing the EMPEROR."

  
  


Ranma looked down at herself, then yawned again. "Aw, I'll do it later, Tamahome. Hotohori won't care anyway."

  
  


***

  
  


Ranma and Tamahome ran down the hall. When they were almost to Hotohori's location, Ranma doubled back and grabbed a thermos of hot water from a kitchen. Tamahome looked puzzled but didn't comment.

  
  


They ran right into the room without even announcing themselves. Tamahome looked as though he was about to get formal and reverent, so Ranma elbowed him in the gut. He doubled over, wheezing. "Hey, Hotohori," Ranma called. "What's up?"

  
  


Hotohori turned. Ranma was pleased to see his hair was down once again- somehow Hotohori even felt easier to TALK to with his hair loose- it was the way it had been when they first met, after all. Hotohori was now bent over some scroll, but abandoned it without a thought when he saw her.

  
  


"It's nice to see you, Ranma. I'm sorry I haven't visited you easier. I've been busy with-"

  
  


Ranma waved a hand. "Aw, cut the pleasantries, Hotohori, they're wasted on me. Listen, I was thinking that you and Tamahome should know something about me, since it might interfere with me being Suzaku no Miko."

  
  


Hotohori got to his feet, looking worried. "Yes?" he asked.

  
  


"Why didn't you tell me you were gonna do this?" Tamahome hissed to her.

  
  


"Cause I DIDN'T," Ranma retorted, then turned back to Hotohori. "Now, neither of you freak out, okay? There's an explanation for this."

  
  


Ranma reached for the kettle she had placed on the ground. "Just watch." She poured the hot water over her head slowly. Tamahome and Hotohori watched as they had been told, completely uncomprehending, as her shoulders broadened, muscles expanded, chest flattened, legs lengthened, waist and hips straightened and became lean, hair turned from red to black, and Saotome Ranma, Suzaku no Miko, became a boy.

  
  


Ranma announced, in case the two men hadn't realized it, "I'm really a guy."

  
  


Tamahome and Hotohori stared at her, open-mouthed. Tamahome fell over. Hotohori was the first to speak. "H-how?" he breathed.

  
  


Ranma shifted, embarrassed, then just decided to blurt the whole thing out. "In my world, my pop and I were always visiting training grounds for martial arts, like I told Tamahome before. We went to this one REALLY weird one, and I fell in a spring there called Spring of Drowned Girl, which gave me a curse. Whenever cold water's poured on me, I turn into a girl- the girl you first met me as. Whenever hot water's poured on me, I turn back into a guy. Me. I hate it, but I don't know any cure for it That's part of why I chose to be Suzaku no Miko, so I could get rid of my curse."

  
  


Tamahome and Hotohori kept staring at her. Finally Hotohori spoke again, expression somehow full of desperation. "But you're still Saotome Ranma? You're still Suzaku no Miko? The girl I met before? You're still... that person?"

  
  


Ranma blinked. "Yeah..." she breathed, staring at Hotohori.

  
  


To her surprise, he looked up smiling, simple happiness filling his gentle face. "Then it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter at all."

  
  


***

  
  


Ryouga was silent. He'd fallen asleep.

  
  


***

  
  


Ending Theme- I Wish

  
  


***

  
  


Next Time on Suzaku no Miko ½!

  
  


Today, the way to summon Suzaku and save Konan is revealed.

A beautiful young woman appears.

One with strength that surpasses even Ryouga's.

The said Ryouga sleeps some more.

And Tamahome is... well... KIND of a jerk.

Don't worry, Tamahome, we still love you just as much as all the others!

Well... not ALL the others.

We confess partiality towards Nuriko.

Yeah, I know.

We're strange.

SO... join us for the next time on Suzaku no Miko ½,

"We're going as fast as we can."

  
  



	3. The Suzaku Shichiseishi

Opening Theme- Winner

  
  


Suzaku no Miko ½

by Starbrigid

  
  


Last Time on Suzaku no Miko ½!

  
  


We all know Ranma, Ryouga, and Tamahome's stories by now, right?

'Cause if we had to repeat them, that would be boring.

We mean, REALLY.

But hey, "LAST chapter, somebody NEW got introduced!"

The part in quotes was in sing-song.

Could you tell?

Probably not.

So anyway, that person was the beautiful emperor of Konan.

Hotohori.

He's cool.

He appointed Ranma "Suzaku no Miko," whatever the hell that is.

Who knows?

Not us, for sure.

We were too busy drooling over Hotohori.

Yeah, we know.

We're sad.

So anyway, Ranma also revealed his DARK SECRET!(TM).

You know.

His real gender.

That sounds a LOT worse when you don't know the back story, doesn't it?

Saotome Ranma, King of Cross-dressers!

-coughs-

Well anyway, Hotohori took Ranma's DARK SECRET!(TM) pretty well.

Tamahome just sort of existed during all this.

That was last episode's ender, for no particular reason.

And now we have another major jump in the plot.

Because frankly, long explanations bore us.

Except for the ones WE write.

And you'll pick up what's going on soon enough.

And so now, for our very FAVORITE FY character's appearance IN...

  
  


Episode 3- The Suzaku Shichiseishi

  
  


"So what are we going to do to find out if these people are seishi? A strip search?"

  
  


Ranma hadn't changed back to his female form. He'd remained male, and was now glaring at Tamahome sourly. "For Suzaku's sake, I AM here, I did agree to be Suzaku no MIKO, which was demeaning enough! Shouldn't I be able to get my wishes now? It's stupid to require me to find five more people before I get them!"

  
  


"Stop complaining, baka," Tamahome hissed. "Hotohori's making an announcement. If we FIND all the Suzaku seishi, then we can summon Suzaku and get your annoying ass the hell out of here forever."

  
  


Ranma blinked, startled by the animosity his words had behind them. "Why were you so much nicer to me when you thought I was a girl?" he asked curiously. Tamahome reddened at her question and didn't answer it, just motioned for her to hush and pay attention.

  
  


They stood on a platform above the stairs of the Konan palace at midday, the sun shining brightly down on them. Hotohori was seated on a regal throne despite their odd location, and even had attendants fanning him and shielding him from the sun. Tamahome and Ranma stood at his side, both trying clandestinely to duck into the umbrella shade when not occupied by arguing with one another. As per the suggestion Hotohori had made, the land's finest warriors were assembled before them. One of them might be a Suzaku seishi- one of Ranma's ordained protectors. They already had two seishi- Tamahome and Hotohori, but there were seven total, and they needed to have the other five before they could summon Suzaku.

  
  


"How do we know if people are seishi or not?" Ranma asked, putting his mind off Tamahome's strange behavior and onto the task at hand. "It's the symbols that indicate it, right?" Hotohori turned to him, nodded. "Well, will THEY know if they have symbols themselves?" Ranma asked impatiently, wishing Hotohori would hurry this process up or just do it FOR him. Man, this was boring.

  
  


"No, they won't," Tamahome rolled his eyes. "The characters only appear during combat. The seishi might never have been in combat, or at least combat severe enough, to make their symbols show up."

  
  


Ranma scratched his head in thought, twirling his pigtail around his finger. "So... the signaling character shows up when they fight real hard?" He grinned. "Then let me handle this, Hotohori. I'll 'test' em, all right."

  
  


Hotohori and Tamahome stared at him. Finally Tamahome spoke. "Shouldn't that be, say, MY job? We're the seishi, you're the miko. We're supposed to protect you. Even if you did turn out to be some idiot boy instead of a hot girl."

  
  


Ranma bristled. "Why do you have to make such a big deal about my being a guy? Hotohori isn't being a jerk about it! And I don't care what the roles are supposed to be for 'protectors' and all that crap! I can kick your ass any day, Tamahome!"

  
  


Tamahome growled. "Oh yeah?"

  
  


Hotohori stood up. He'd clearly had enough. "Stop! This is unseemly. Ranma, go test the candidates if you want to, just be gentle, alright?" He looked at the boy expectantly, so Ranma nodded his assent. He always liked Hotohori, unlike Tamahome. Konan's emperor WAS such a regal, powerful, charismatic person, even if his position and apparent vanity got on Ranma's nerves in a huge way. But it sure didn't hurt that the man WAS drop-dead gorgeous.

  
  


And Tamahome? Well, okay, Tamahome was cool, too, in a very different way. He was a person who reminded Ranma a lot of himself, a bit cutthroat, a bit dedicated, possessing a sense of justice and a love of fighting, wicked good looks- manly ones, and skill at brawling. He would have had a great time being friends with Tamahome or something. Too bad his fellow martial artist was acting like such a jerk! Man, just the thought made him really angry! Time to kick some sorry soldier ass!

  
  
  
  


Ranma stepped forward, sized up the warriors- then sneered. "This is gonna be a piece of cake," he said. Then he charged forward, aware of Tamahome and Hotohori's eyes on him.

  
  


In mere seconds, all the warriors had been plowed into the ground, and were left to lie moaning at Ranma's feet. Ranma shrugged, nonchalant about it. So much for being gentle with them. "Ah, well. Guess we can push them off the list."

  
  


Hotohori looked impressed, and even clapped a bit. Tamahome looked more annoyed than anything else, especially after his fellow seishi's reaction. "What was the point of that aside from showing off, Ranma?" he snapped.

  
  


"Get off my case, you jerk!" Ranma snapped at Tamahome, then turned with a softer expression to the seishi he could STAND. "Well, Ho-ri, bring in the next batch!"

  
  


Hotohori was taken aback by the hostility between Ranma and Tamahome, not to mention by the way Ranma had ordered him to bring out candidates, but did as his miko said anyway.

  
  


***

  
  


By the time the sky's brightness had almost completely faded, they were no closer to finding the Suzaku Shichiseishi than they'd been before. Tamahome and Hotohori both looked tired and frustrated. Ranma, however, had been invigorated by it all. Fights always gave him a rush, however pointless.

  
  


He pumped his chest proudly. "Well, at least I know I can still kick ass!" he yelled upwards, then if possible seemed to grow even more energetic. "Now for FOOD!"

  
  


"Why oh WHY couldn't Suzaku no Miko have been some gentle maiden?" Tamahome moaned to Hotohori when Ranma was out of earshot, collapsing against the side of Hotohori's throne.

  
  


Hotohori frowned. "That's what you'd like? I much prefer it this way."

  
  


Tamahome stared at Hotohori. "You'd rather have a BOY be our PRIESTESS?"

  
  


Hotohori looked genuinely perplexed. "You don't like Ranma?"

  
  


Tamahome sighed. "I- I don't know. Hey, Ranma?" he called, turning to say something to the boy. But Ranma had already ran off in search of dinner.

  
  


Tamahome sighed in a long-suffering way. Hotohori laughed. The sound was clear, like a low-pitched bell, rumbling into the dark.

  
  


***

  
  


That night, Ranma dreamed again.

  
  


In this dream, Ranma had Ryouga pinned down beneath him, defeated. The Lost Boy had been so heavily beaten that he couldn't even muster the strength to heave Ranma off him. He had to just lie there, helpless beneath his worst enemy.

  
  


Normally after Ranma trashed Ryouga, he'd leave his fellow martial artist where he'd fallen and wander off, satisfied. But not this time. Straddling the other boy's legs, he held Ryouga's hands down beside him so he couldn't break free. Neither of them was going anywhere.

  
  


Ranma could feel the heat of Ryouga's exhausted body beneath him, pressing against his, the other boy's heart pounding a fast, intoxicating rhythm against where he lay. The Lost Boy was flushed from the fight, red with effort, dark hair disheveled, innocent brown eyes wide, huge. His skin was oozing with, coated with, perspiration, making it glisten in the sunset. The ugly, poignant odor of it assaulted Ranma's nostrils, mixing with the smells that were purely Ryouga, instant ramen and little pieces of different places he'd been, dirt, raw nature and lostness- salty tears.

  
  


Ranma had no such stench. He hadn't even broken a sweat.

  
  


"What now, Ryouga?" Ranma asked. It was his usual nonchalant tone, but it had a trace of cruelty, forcefulness behind it. "What if I don't let you run away?"

  
  


Ryouga's eyes grew even bigger, and he began to struggle with Ranma anew. Ranma frowned and pushed Ryouga's muscular arms up, holding the other boy's wrists behind his head. "Uh-uh. It's not gonna be that easy to get away from me," he taunted. "You've never even been able to stay away, even when I didn't WANT you there. But what if I... DO want you here with me now?"

  
  


Ryouga stared up at Ranma uncertainly and Ranma glared down at him. "Don't freeze up now, Ryouga. I'm Saotome Ranma, the best martial artist in the WORLD. What I want, I'll TAKE. NOW." Ryouga's eyes shook with unshed tears, and Ranma sneered, leaning closer so their faces were barely an inch apart. "Come on, Ryouga," he hissed. "Isn't this what you wanted?"

  
  


He leaned in, closed his eyes- and bumped noses with someone who was Not Ryouga. It was- was- the ugliest woman he'd ever seen in his entire life!

  
  


"GAH!" Ranma cried, jumping back from the horrible vision assaulting his eyes. "What- what ARE you? MONSTER!"

  
  


In a second, the woman had whacked him hard on the head. "Don't say that! I came here to your (incredibly weird) dream to help you, you incompetent male excuse for a miko!"

  
  


"I didn't want to be here in this world in the first place, and I can't help my real GENDER," Ranma snapped, still disoriented from his abruptly-cut-off encounter with the boy from his world. "But for the love of Suzaku, lady, can't YOU help your FACE?"

  
  


Before he could say another world, he had been decked, and the world was full of shimmering, glittery stars. "Deh... pretty lights..." he moaned.

  
  


The old woman snorted in disgust. "This is all wrong," she sighed to herself. "They were supposed to have met Nuriko by NOW. And- why in the world DID Suzaku choose this BOY as his miko?"

  
  


"The lights are shiny... spinny, spinny..."

  
  


"I'm here to give you a little push along in the right direction, since you obviously need it," the old woman continued, turning back to the collapsed Ranma. She had been put in a very foul temper by his remarks. "Here. Take this." She threw something on him, much rougher and more callously than she needed to. "It's a magic mirror. It acts like a detector for your seishi. When you get near one of them, it'll react and you'll know."

  
  


"Swirl, swirl..."

  
  


The old woman snorted in disgust. "Again, what WAS Suzaku thinking?" she muttered. "His looks? His martial arts skills? Universe knows that's all he's got..."

  
  


Her faint murmuring faded away, and Ranma opened his eyes, which were still swirly circles. He blinked, the world becoming less blurry.

  
  


"Ryouga..."

  
  


"Huh? A... dream?" But his stomach hurt, weight resting on it. Sure enough, there was an ornate mirror lying on it, clearly having been thrown into his solar plexus, which had probably knocked the wind out of him.

  
  


"It wasn't a dream... or at least the part at the end I remember..." he mused. Then his eyes widened in horror. "A lady that ugly really exists?"

  
  


***

  
  


Ryouga woke up at the same time Ranma did, opening his eyes groggily. "Ugh... I was napping?" Then he remembered the book and began to page through it hurriedly. What had he missed? Had something happened to Ranma while he'd been out of it?

  
  


"Come on," he hissed. "Come on."

  
  


***

  
  


Ranma was STILL dressed in the clothes he'd come in. He hurried down the hall, holding the mirror with him. "Gotta find Hotohori or Tamahome, they gotta know about this-"

  
  


Of course, at that moment, a servant was pouring one pot of cold water into another, and accidentally missed and sprayed Ranma with it. With one cold touch of a drop of water, he was a she.

  
  


GREAT. Ranma cursed under her breath. It took her a while to find some hot water, practically dragging the first servant she could find to prepare some for her. She certainly had no idea where she'd find the supplies to heat water or what she'd do with them if she had them.

  
  


Ranma, male again, then set down the corridor. After questioning another servant rather violently- he had no time to waste, he'd already wasted enough- he'd found out where Hotohori's quarters were. He pushed past the guards outside them and walked into the room, looking around for a bed.

  
  


He whistled lowly at his first sight of Hotohori's bedchambers. The place was beautiful, stocked with every luxury, clearly designed and made with the finest materials available, no expenses spared. After wandering in a bit farther, honey-brown hair caught his eye, spilling from a head mostly obscured, curled up in a truly HUGE bed. That was Hotohori there, all right.

  
  


Ranma launched himself to the side of the big bed. He would have slapped anyone else awake, but Hotohori was an emperor, plus, well- Hotohori. Because of that, he only gently shook the man to rouse him. "Yo. Ho-ri. I've got something important to show you." Hotohori remained unmoved. "Oi! Wake up!" He prodded Hotohori's side underneath the blanket. "I'm talking to you!"

  
  


Hotohori's eyes opened slowly, long dark eyelashes fluttering, disoriented. It figured, Ranma thought, that even waking up would be such a grand, visual affair for Hotohori. "Ranma?" Hotohori asked drowsily, peering up at the boy through hazy, half-closed eyes. He pulled his head up off the pillow, hair sliding across the sheets. "What are you doing in here?"

  
  


"I've got something to talk to you about, Hotohori. D- d'you mind?" Ranma asked, hesitating a bit at the end. With anyone else he would have just gotten on with it, but this was an emperor, and it was HOTOHORI.

  
  


Hotohori stretched slowly, sheet falling off him as he sat up to face Ranma. One arm of his thin, light blue robe had slipped off, revealing a bare shoulder. His robe hung open, exposing just a tantalizing glimpse of its contents. His smooth chest inside, his coffee colored nipples, hard, erect points, brushing almost painfully against the soft, luxurious pale silk-

  
  


Ranma shook his head. SHIT.

  
  


He forced himself to look up, fixing his eyes solely on Hotohori's face. "I had a dream last night," he announced. "It was of- of this really ugly old lady. She gave me this mirror, told me it would react when we got near a seishi. It should help us." He handed the small, intricate piece of glass to the emperor, nearly stumbling over himself as he bent down to give it to where the other man still lay in bed.

  
  


Hotohori, holding the mirror and staring at it contemplatively, pushed the rest of the covers off him. His robe was only loosely tied, tangled haphazardly around long legs. For a second, Ranma caught a glimpse of one slender, rounded bronze thigh- And then Hotohori had gotten to his feet, robe falling back into place. "Do you mind if I keep this to look at?" Hotohori asked.

  
  


"Huh?" Ranma blinked.

  
  


"Do you mind if I keep the mirror to look at?" Hotohori repeated patiently. "I'll give it back, it's your mirror. I'd just like to examine it, if that's alright."

  
  


"Sure, if you don't forget to give it back," Ranma said hurriedly. "Um, that's all. I guess I'll be going." Then his eyes lit up. "When's breakfast?" The novelty of all the delicious free food now available to him was just becoming evident, it seemed.

  
  


Hotohori smiled. "You can go get food from the kitchens, if you wish. I told them that it would be alright. If you'd like to wait to dine with me, that would be nice as well."

  
  


Ranma looked down, red faced. "W-would you mind if I just went and ate right now? I'm kinda really hungry..."

  
  


Hotohori threw his head back and laughed, a purely masculine sound, his long, slender neck arching back, hair jumping like a live thing. "That would be fine. Ranma?"

  
  


Ranma was glaze-eyed, face still red. "Ranma?" he asked again, concerned. Was his miko all right?

  
  


"Y-yeah, I'm cool, bye," Ranma muttered, then fled.

  
  


Hotohori sighed. The boy WAS from another world, but Ranma still really was rather strange.

  
  


***

  
  


The next morning, Ranma walked along the same corridor again, back from breakfast. Hotohori hadn't managed to find anything Ranma hadn't noticed about the mirror, so Ranma had just decided to take it back. Now he had put his 'brilliant' plan in action. The plan? Walk around the palace and see if the mirror did anything.

  
  


Well, no one ever picked Ranma to be Suzaku no Miko for his intelligence.

  
  


Said Not-Picked-For-His-Intelligence-Boy was getting pretty frustrated. To distract himself, he started going over the Saotome Desperation Strikes in his head. He was on the 'Look! A 100 yen piece' one- he couldn't remember Pop's hokey name for it- when the mirror started to shine with a bright red light.

  
  


"Whoa!" he cried, staggering back flailing. He only barely managing to keep a hold on the magical object with his martial artist reflexes. He managed to catch it, and the bright red light began to fade. The symbol for 'willow' had appeared on the smooth surface, light pushing out from its center, ripples on a smooth lake.

  
  


He pointed the mirror one way, and the light receded. He pointed it in the opposite direction, and the light grew brighter. "Kind of a hot, cold type thing," Ranma observed. "That way, then?" He pushed the indicated door open and walked inside. He was surprised by the sight of an obscene number of pretty little girl servants, crowding the room. His gaze swept around the chambers he'd entered. A woman's room. A rather fine one at that, though unable to lift a finger to Hotohori's, of course.

  
  


For some reason, the girl servants looked very upset, though he couldn't figure out why. Then one of them pointed at him, tiny finger trembling, and her squeaky voice made everything clear. "You- you BOY! You're not supposed to be here! This is part of the emperor's harem!"

  
  


Ranma's eyebrows shot up. Harem? The palace had a harem? And more importantly, HOTOHORI had a harem? Somehow, he couldn't imagine the beautiful man ever using it. But he needed to be in this- harem, whatever it was. "Hey," he hastily defended himself, "Get off my case. I'm Suzaku no Miko, so you gotta do what I say."

  
  


The girls stared at him, dumbstruck. Then Squeaky Voice shrieked, "How can you be Suzaku no MIKO? You're a BOY-"

  
  


Squeaker was cut off a by a lower voice, a smooth alto, intruding in. "You're Suzaku no Miko? Not one of the seishi like I thought, then."

  
  


"Huh?" Ranma craned his neck. He couldn't see where the speaker was. Then he saw the girls moving out of someone's way. A woman emerged from amidst the crowd before him, servants parting around her like an absurd parody of the Red Sea. "You can't be Suzaku no Miko. Unless you're really a girl and you're hiding it very well. That would explain it, I suppose." And Ranma met Nuriko.

  
  


If Hotohori was the most beautiful man Ranma had ever seen, this person before her was the most beautiful woman. Her hair was thick, long, a rich blue-violet, impeccably arranged in an insanely complicated weave of braids and buns that only a woman could ever have thought of. Her rose eyes shone below her hair, bright and clear. Her lips were painted a blatant scarlet red, eyes adorned with dark makeup that made her eyes look slanted and false. She wore the bright concealing robes of a courtesan, evoking a flower- not the no-doubt-desired rose, but a willow, or a sprightly, energetic rain of somehow multi-colored sakura. While Hotohori's skin was bronzed, tanned, this woman was pale and untouched by the sun, yet unlike Hotohori's stunning perfection, her beauty was a colorful one, just as bright as her eyes, shining and human and alive if only in sheer physical appearance.

  
  


Those rose eyes locked on Ranma. He could somehow see a concealed, invisible character on the woman's chest- the character for willow. Her posture, her voice, her carefully tailored appearance all spoke of shallowness that was only on the outside, of a repression of strength- a wide, almost masculine strength, graceless but limitless. It spoke of brightness and a true self and a potential for selfless, stunning love pushed behind makeup and robes and stiff palace politics. A stout willow branch that had made up its mind to become an innocent little rose bud. Well, it sure as hell hadn't worked. Ranma looked INSIDE the stranger at that moment, and somehow- Knew. This 'woman' was really a boy-

  
  


No, that was impossible! 'Forget it, Ranma,' he told himself. 'She's obviously a girl. You're being stupid.' Some part of him still protested. 'But-' He sighed inwardly. 'SHUT UP!'

  
  


"You're Nuriko, aren't you," Ranma said, pushing his strange ideas aside and stepping forward to his new seishi, the WOMAN (he was sure, what a strange idea! Ranma no baka!)

  
  


Nuriko frowned. "I- I'm called Korin, but I'm also known as Nuriko, yes-"

  
  


"Then come with me," Ranma cut HER off. "I'm Suzaku no Miko- you've heard of the legends, right? And yeah, I'm a guy, but I'll explain later. And you're one of my seishi, my protectors- even despite you being some weird harem lady. Got it?" He said all this fast, coarsely, trying to push away the strange connection with Nuriko he felt running through his body, the strange thoughts rushing through his head.

  
  


He'd felt an instant affinity with Nuriko, an link in his head somehow. Ranma was usually horrible at reading people, but somehow, Nuriko was almost clear, transparent to him. Maybe it was just because Nuriko's seishi symbol was shining beneath her robes. Or maybe it was just the combination of strength and vulnerability he sensed in her, which reminded him so much of Ryouga. Yet she was very different from Ryouga, it was clear. For one thing, Ryouga didn't wear a mask.

  
  


***

  
  


Ranma arrived in Hotohori's throne room with Nuriko, as usual not bothering to announce himself. Hotohori was consorting with a group of advisers, but he dismissed them as soon as he saw Ranma. Then his happy expression melted into mild confusion when he noticed the woman at Ranma's side. "Who's this, Ranma?"

  
  


Ranma looked at Nuriko, who seemed to have frozen up. She was just staring up at Hotohori with a sort of shock. Ranma nudged her. "Hey. Don't be afraid of Hotohori. He's one of my seishi, too. He's actually really nice."

  
  


"Baka, I wasn't staring because I'm AFRAID of him," Nuriko hissed. She straightened herself up and looked the emperor in the eye, full boldness back. "My name is Korin, but I'm really Nuriko, and as Ranma's told me, one of the Suzaku Shichiseishi."

  
  


"I found her with the mirror," Ranma offered, feeling generous.

  
  


Hotohori's eyes narrowed. "Can she prove her identity to us?" he asked. Then he brightened with an idea, clapped his hands in command. "Ranma, a demonstration."

  
  


Ranma's eyes widened. "Hotohori, I can't hit a woman!"

  
  


Hotohori looked alarmed. "I hadn't considered that. Nuriko, do you have any idea what your powers are?"

  
  


Nuriko blinked several times. "I dunno. What's going on?" When she spoke to Hotohori, the tone of her voice grew higher and sweeter. Somehow, with those words, Nuriko's demeanor seemed to have changed. Or perhaps it was just an adjustment to her new surroundings- it was quite a big difference. But this new, composed, false Nuriko was a lot less likable than the real one- if there was such a one...

  
  


Hotohori frowned. "I'll explain later, Nuriko. Ranma, please, it's necessary."

  
  


Ranma looked uncertain. "Pop always told me, NEVER hit a girl..."

  
  


"Heika-sama, tell the boy to get serious about whatever you want," Nuriko said, everything about her, especially her voice, completely transformed from 'normal person' to 'sugary-sweet bitch.' Did she have some sort of sudden beef against Ranma?

  
  


Said Ranma shifted uncomfortably. "You do it, Hotohori. YOU hit her." Nuriko looked a bit alarmed. Had she just noticed for the first time how very familiar Ranma was with the emperor? Or had she just realized they were telling each other to HIT her?

  
  


Hotohori's frown deepened. "I'm the emperor, so I REALLY cannot."

  
  


Ranma sighed. "Fine." To be honest, after Nuriko had put on those airs, hitting the harem woman was beginning to seem more and more appealing. He drew his fist back warily. "Here goes. I'll hold back, okay?"

  
  


Nuriko nodded, so Ranma charged at her, deliberately holding back most of his force. She still cried out at the impact of his fist- and then, he could see something GLOW beneath her robes- the symbol he'd seen before. She drew HER fist back and hit him just the way he'd hit her.

  
  


Ranma had been expecting a girly hit- after all, she was a stupid girl, how much damage could she do? But, after he had gone through the second wall, he rethought that opinion.

  
  


When he landed, he felt as if a train had ran into his stomach, but he quickly jumped to his feet anyway. "Damn, she's strong," he winced, then his eyes widened in almost comical realization. "That must be her power! She's super-strong!"

  
  


Hotohori looked very impressed. Nuriko had looked a bit worried about what she'd done to her new miko, but when she saw the admiration on Hotohori's face, she seemed to forget all about Ranma completely.

  
  


"How was I, Heika-sama?" she simpered. She tossed one of her long braids over her shoulder, shooting a last, triumphant glare over her shoulder at Ranma before turning back to Hotohori. Ranma stared. Why did she have a problem with him? She'd just MET him!

  
  


He began to wonder if he'd really felt something from her after all.

  
  


But still, from the force in that punch he'd taken, Nuriko was as strong as Ryouga. Maybe- maybe even STRONGER.

  
  


Ryouga...

  
  


Why did being around Nuriko, even when she was acting like an annoying, petty schoolgirl, make him feel like Ryouga, with his strength and his vulnerability, was right there in the room beside him?

  
  


He turned away. Hotohori could explain why Ranma was Suzaku no Miko. He should probably go tell Tamahome of their first success.

  
  


***

  
  


That night, Ranma didn't dream of Ryouga. He didn't manage to get to sleep at all, just lay awake. He didn't know why, but he couldn't stop thinking of everything, of Ryouga and Hotohori and Nuriko and Tamahome. Faces played in his mind like a litany. Maybe he was just having trouble sleeping because he hadn't gotten as much exercise as he was used to, but-

  
  


He was drawn outside, drawn by a force he didn't understand, drawn out of his room. He ran lightly down the hall of the palace, aware everyone was sleeping, everything dark and quiet. He was drawn outside, to the garden behind the palace, a gathering of dark silhouettes of trees looming above him, yet still below the incredibly clear, starry sky. In the center, guarded by the circle of tree silhouettes, was the full moon and stars again, reflected by the surface of a large koi pond.

  
  


Ranma began to turn away, not wanting to risk getting wet and turning into a girl at this time of night, then stopped. He'd missed something. There was a figure in the pond, bathing in the moonlight, naked as the day she was born. It was Nuriko.

  
  


Nuriko, who hadn't noticed Ranma yet, stood in water that was halfway up her body, exposing her entire torso. Her hair was not in a complicated hairstyle but bound in a long, simple braid. She was much more attractive now than she had been before, moonlight transforming her. Against his will, Ranma's eyes swept down from her bare face to her body-

  
  


Nuriko was a boy! His chest was not the expansive one of a woman's, but flat. He was thin, water droplets dripping down the planes of his stomach, past the blades of his straight, narrow hips and back into the water. He was a startling picture there, make-up and color and femininity stripped away to just reveal a thin, pretty young- MAN!!! Instead of the dark concealing any of this, the moonlight illuminated Nuriko, causing his pale skin to glow. It made it all the more painfully obvious what his true gender was.

  
  


Ranma's jaw dropped, and he face-faulted to end all face-faults as only Saotome Ranma, Heir to the Saotome School of Anything Goes Martial Arts could. "What the-"

  
  


Nuriko turned, startled, then his eyes widened at the sight of Ranma there before him. "What- why- what are you DOING here?"

  
  


"Out for a walk," Ranma gasped, voice high-pitched and strained. 'Ranma is shocked!'

  
  


Nuriko raced out of the water and grabbed onto the shorter boy, effortlessly hauling up by the collar so they met eye to eye. "Forget what you saw here, understand me? If you tell ANYONE, I don't care that you're Suzaku no Miko, I'll KILL you!" An almost frightening desperation and intensity ran through Nuriko's voice and body. He was... scared?

  
  


Ranma frowned. "What kinda pervert guy dresses like a girl all the time?" he blinked.

  
  


Nuriko hit him, HARD. Ranma flew back. Nuriko ran, grabbed his clothes, began to pull them on angrily. "It's none of your business! I'm not a PERVERT, I have my own reasons!"

  
  


"Then what are they?" Ranma pushed his way to Nuriko, trying to ignore the other boy's nakedness.

  
  


Nuriko was ten times more beautiful in that moment than he'd been dressed as a haughty woman, water droplets running down his wet, slender form, bare to the world, his face torn between anger and sadness, his hot tears falling crystals. "My sister! She's dead because of me, so I'm her, and she's not dead anymore! That's why! I HATE YOU, SAOTOME RANMA!"

  
  


Ranma watched Nuriko, uncertain. "I-"

  
  


Nuriko's eyes were full of loathing. "GET. AWAY. FROM. ME!" He grabbed his garments and ran away as fast as he could.

  
  


Ranma plopped down hard on the ground, shallow teenage mind unable to process the feelings and deepness that had just passed. But...

  
  


He wanted to make things right again.

  
  


Somehow?

  
  


***

  
  


Ending Theme- I Wish

  
  


Those stars that twinkle in the darkness

Must have made you lose your way as well.

We're both looking for a different tomorrow

So very much alike,

You and I.

  
  


Even though I know believing in someone,

Will only end up hurting me in the end...

  
  


I wish for your love

I wish for your love

Why? Please tell me, blue star...

  
  


I wish for your love-

I can't become strong

With a broken heart.

  
  


***

  
  


Next Time on Suzaku no Miko ½!

  
  


We can't think of anything witty to say.

We're still too torn up on behalf of our beloved Nuriko-sama.

Nuriko-sama!

-sniff sniff-

-WORSHIP WORSHIP-

No, we're not biased!

Really!

To prove it, we'll write witty things now!

Okay...

Maybe not.

We're SAD!

But we can tell you that next episode will be spectacular!

Full of character development!

Raging feelings!

Raging yaoi!

-yaoi fangirl readers cheer, non yaoi-fangirl readers look murderous-

Lots of action and fighting!

ACTION!

Tamahome and Ryouga AREN'T ignored!

We try valiantly to keep everyone in character! Really!

The plot advances! (scary, huh?)

And... it includes...

-heart heart heart-

NURIKO-SAMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

Soooo, join us for next time on Suzaku no Miko ½-

"NURIKO-SAMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

Oh, no, wait, sorry. Wrong motto.

"We're going as fast as we can."

Yeah, that's it.

Sorry.

Eh... -weak grin- LOVE AND PEACE!

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



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